Mr. Calverley: There were two companies, Galliford and Try, both small quoted companies, both contractors and house builders. The combined market value of the two companies before the merger was about 47 million pounds. Both companies took the view that if we were to progress, we needed to either stay in the public arena and expand or go private. Both companies wanted to grow the businesses and so we merged Galliford and Try in September of last year. Geographically we were very complementary: Galliford was strong in the Midlands and the north of England and Try was strong in the Southeast. This is both in contracting and housing, which are both companies key businesses. On the contracting side in particular we had a number of clients who were mutual to both companies. We could also see that as our clients were merging and looking for fewer contractors to work with, it made sense to combine and give that client focus, which we can do more effectively as a combined group. Our strategy on the construction side is to be a market leader in delivery of a complete construction services through a partnership approach with a strong sector focus. On the housing side we focus on being a recognized leader in niche markets with strong regional brands. The key here is that we do not see ourselves as a major national house builder, we do not aspire to that. We want to play to our strengths in our local markets.
TWST: Does the recent Knapp acquisition speak to that strategy?
Mr. Calverley: It does, yes. That is an example of how we see the business going forward on the housing side. We basically have the three brand names, Stamford Homes based in Peterborough, which covers the eastern counties. Try homes, which covers the southeast of England, and Midas Homes, which covers the southwest, based just outside Exeter. The acquisition of Knapp was to strengthen Midas in the southwest. It was seen more as a land acquisition than buying a going concern and added 200 plots to our land bank in that part of the country.
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